Visual Design in Video Games

Illusion refining, indeed, appears to be a major driving force of video game evolution. The appeal of ever-more realistic depictions of virtual universes in itself justifies the purchase of expensive new machinery, be it the latest console or dedicated computer parts. Yet, one must not conceive of this evolution as a linear progression towards perfect verisimilitude. The relative quality of static and dynamic renders, associated with a wide range of imaging techniques more or less suited to the capabilities of any given video game system, demonstrate the unsteady evolution of visual representation in the short history of the medium. Moreover, older techniques are sometimes integrated in the latest 3-D games, and 2-D gaming still enjoys a very strong following with portable game systems. Despite its short history, a detailed account of the apparatus behind the illusion would already require many volumes in itself. In this chapter, we will examine only the fundamentals of the different imaging techniques along with key examples. However, we hope to go further than a simple historical account of illusion refining, and expose the different ideals that governed and still governs the evolution of visual design in games.